And Thats a Wrap - The NYU Capstone Experience

Jules - Foundation Rwanda's Founder and Executive Director - best describes our productive adventure in her generous FB status post shortly after returning back to New York:

Dear NYU Capstone Foundation Rwanda Team: You interviewed 25 FR mothers, 12 FR students, 4 FR NGO partners & countless possible partners, you traveled to places in Rwanda most have yet to go, you barely slept, you never complained, you advocated for jobs, health, counseling, vocational training and higher education. Together we laughed and we cried. Sam, Sara and I will forever be grateful for this experience and for each one of you. With gratitude. Laura, Shalane, Alyson, Eras and Priscilla. See you all in NYC! x

Its unbelievable the Team has only been here for less than 2 weeks, because considering how much work we’ve accomplished it feels like we’ve been here for over a month. In 13 days (which by the way we worked through 13 days straight with no day off), between our team of five we probably conducted almost 50 interviews, partially due to unexpected interviews set up with potential partners we gained knowledge of while on the ground. 

Along the way we met some of the most inspiring women and were lucky enough to experience both modern and rural living - home-cooked local Rwanda meals from the villages of Kibuye to home-cooked meals in one of the most luxurious houses I never imagined I'd see in the business district of Kigali.

A friend of mine said when I returned from Rwanda she felt there was something different about me. She said she felt as if I glowing with new-found energy, and she's exactly right. There was a point in time that we were heading back to Kigali from our trip to Kibuye, riding in the back of a Toyota 4-wheel drive and bouncing around until we were carsick from the bumpy roads, and having a conversation about where we saw ourselves after graduation. Without a doubt the Capstone experience in Rwanda reaffirmed that working "in the field" is where I'm most alive and where I belong. I want place all my professional energy engaging with communities from cultures most different from me, not behind a desk with no human interaction. So thank you Capstone, but most importantly thank you Foundation Rwanda.

Local Rwandan Cuisine

Local food is yummy! Although they eat various types of red meats here, its quite easy to avoid them. If you're not the biggest red meat fan (like myself), you'll probably end up eating mostly starches, which are more than likely fried. Although everything is not as heavily fried or saturated in palm oil as Ghanian local food, the Rwandan diet is fairly starch-heavy. At a local restaurant you will find an array of starches - rice, crepes, cassava, sweet potatoes, chips (as in fried potatoes) and matooke (starchy bananas).

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not a complainer, but one aspect of Rwanda for which I am greatly thankful is their coffee! Compared to the other two African countries I've visited - Ghana and South Africa - where Nescafe or instant coffee was staple, having freshly brewed coffee is pleasant. Even when studying abroad in Thailand in 2007 instant coffee was the norm, so its nice to wake up to real coffee for a traveling change. The fresh milk served alongside the coffee is always warmed, which I also appreciate! It makes total sense... why put cold milk into your steaming hot coffee? Of course you'd prefer warmed milk in your hot beverage!

Anyways, here's some photos of Rwanda's delicious local food-

The first local meal we ate in Kigali. It was SO yummy. Cassava, dirty rice, green beans, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans and potatoes.

A Ugandan dish at the Bethanie Hotel in Kibuye near alongside Lake Kivu. Apparently its usually eaten as a hearty morning breakfast. I forget what it was called, it it was basically a stewed mix of veggies, chicken, beans, rice and pasta. Hearty indeed.

Driving around Rwanda banana trees are everywhere. Apparently, there are four types of bananas grown here: the small sweet ones (good for dessert), matooke (more starchy, less sweet and typically boiled, plantain (ideal for frying), and then the variety we are accustomed to eating in the US. Prior to arriving in Rwanda we heard that they make banana beer and were excited to try the local beverage. What we found instead was more of a banana wine, with an alcohol content of 14%. The one below was found at the local supermarket for 1500 RWF, or about USD $2.50. If you've ever tasted palm wine before, the banana wine tastes somewhat similar.

"Akarusho" or banana wine. Made of fermented banana juice and sorghum. It tasted similar to palm wine.

Humbled to enjoy a homemade meal in a village in the Rutsiro district near Kivu Lake.

A homemade Rwandan meal at the home of an FR mother. Peas and carrots,  boiled cassava, squash, matooke stew,  rice and pineapples.

It isn't uncommon for families to ferment bananas in their home and make their own banana wine! We visited two different FR mothers who make the local drink. One mother gave us a tour of her house and showed us the room where she ferments the bananas, while this mother in Kibuye served a generous pitcher for us guests with our meal. 

Especially in the rural villages of Kibuye where most families' livelihood and income rely on agriculture cultivation, bananas is one of the priority crops. Not only is it one of the main staples, but also serves as a food security crop with a year round harvest. During our interviews we were shocked to hear from one beneficiary about a dangerous and epidemic disease that a caused 100% of banana yield losses. After doing some research we learned the disease, banana xanthomonas was recognized as a national threat, spreading to Rwanda and other countries in Eastern Africa after emerging from Uganda. Apparently the Rwandan government is trying to solve the issue by replacing farmers' diseased banana trees with new banana trees.

Homemade banana wine in Kibuye.

While I am least adventurous with red meat, I never say no to fish. Jules treated us to talapias at her hotel. The meal reminded me of Duncan's in Accra, except there was no accompanying banku (I prefer rice anyways. 

Delicious talapia fish at the Chez Landau. SO fresh and yummy. It was accompanied with spinach, pees and carrots and rice. Definitely one of my favorite meals in Rwanda.

Our Capstone Team was blessed to be paired with such an amazing client. I am most humbled to have shared homemade meals with locals on several occasions. Foundation Rwanda has made a strong impression on the local community here in Rwanda, making friendships with kind and generous people. Learning and laughing from inspiring and successful business women like Joy of Gahaya Links over a glass of wine or watching Sam's wedding videos in his living room with his wife as if we were actually present on that memorable day, are some of the best memories I'll walk away with from this trip. 

Another homemade meal - Chicken, fish, rice and tomato sauce, peas,  potatoes, crepe and cucumber and onion salad.

Dirty rice, homemade peanut sauce, chapatti, potatoes, boiled sweet potatoes, beans  and homemade chili salsa.

On the Eastern Shore of Lake Kivu

To speak humbly, every day in this trip has been better than yesterday. I admire our team so much – I truly am lucky to have such as KICK ASS team. Since we’ve arrived on Tuesday, January 8 we’ve been working nonstop conducting research on partner organizations, refining our strategic interviews and identifying goals for each meeting, conducting interviews, synthesizing answers, and trying to make sense of it all. During our ‘free time’, which is practically nonexistent, we are planning ahead for the next day’s meetings. After dinner we typically fit in an hour or so more of work, head to bed around 11pm or midnight and are back up at it again at 7am. (This morning I woke up at 5am and watched the sunrise over Lake Kivu, which to be honest I am not going to complain about).

Since I have a relatively faint heart I’ve emotionally prepared for this Rwanda trip knowing that I will encounter the sensitive topic of genocidal rape by reading tons of books, watching documentaries and setting Google Alerts following the Rwandan genocide in the media. One of the books I read, Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza is a memoir by a genocide survivor who worked for the UN thereafter and still lives in New York. She tells the miraculous story of strength, faith, and survival. She describes how God and a local Hutu pastor hid her and seven other women in a cramped bathroom of his home the size of a closet. They spent 91 days in this closet praying each day they wouldn’t be found until they eventually fled and found a French refuge camp. When she left the bathroom hiding spot she faced the loss of numerous family members and friends, including her parents. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a personal account of someone who survived the Rwandan genocide. Anyways, point is that the book took place in Immaculee's hometown of Kibuye, so I was extremely intrigued and humbled to get the chance to visit this part of Rwanda where 90 percent of the Tutsi population was murdered during the genocide of 1994. After reading reading Immaculee's story and description of her home town, its enticing to be able to put a 'face to a name', so to speak.

Overlooking Lake Kivu from the Moriah Hotel

Lake Kivu is nestled between the borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, with many memories from the genocide lingering within. Although today Rwanda has somewhat found peace after its civil war, there are still acts of violence continuing on in Goma, on the north side of Lake Kivu just across the Congo border. The Western city of Kibuye is one of the most rural, but has an amazing story of survival to tell. Although about 90 percent of the town's Tutsi population was massacred during the civil war, the women have since emerged triumphant through the formation of a community support network.

Through speaking with many of the women, we found the concept of 'active listening' keeping many of these women alive and sane. 'Active listening' can be more or less described as community counseling. One women gets receives training in 'active listening' and becomes a mobile community counselor, inviting other women to call upon her when in need, and willing to travel many kilometers just to visit a women in her community who desperately needs someone to actively listen. I should mention that due to Rwanda's thousand hills and hilly landscape, outlying towns such as Kibuye and Cyangugu are isolated from the reach of servicing nonprofits. One of Foundation Rwanda's local partners, AVEGA West, is the nearest servicing nonprofit to these women, yet it would take nearly a 2 hour walk to reach the nonprofits compound for a counseling session. Thus in my opinion it is these women's evident bond and strength in numbers that has allowed them to survive and remain positive. 

Women survivors of Rwanda's genocidal past find laughter, tears of joy and self-confidence in lipstick.

These women were vibrant and full of life. They had a sense of humor and laughed with us. They cooked and shared with us a delicious local meal and strong batch of home brewed banana wine. Their smiles were bright and it brought me indescribable joy to laugh with them until they cried. They shared with us their hopes and dreams for themselves and their children. Seeing their strength today, you would never have known their traumatic past, but I am thankful, humbled, and inspired by the individual stories they shared with us. If they can live to have hope, anyone can. I only hope our paths will cross again.

Instead of a 2.5 hour drive back through the hilly terrain, we opted for a boat ride across Lake Kivu and back to our hotel.

School Visits and Interviews

Foundation Rwanda (FR) currently sponsors 827 students' education through the completion of secondary school, equivalent to graduating high school in the US education system. Since FR's primary initiative is to ensure all 827 current beneficiaries complete secondary school, it is most beneficial for our research to interview a wide range of FR's student beneficiaries. In Rwanda age does not determine what class level a student is placed, especially after the genocide. So although almost all of FR's beneficiaries are between 17 and 18, we interviewed students enrolled in class levels from Senior 3 (Equivalent to ninth grade in the US) to students who have already completed Senior 6 (equivalent to the high school graduation in the US).

So far, we've completed 10 interviews from student beneficiaries attending various types of schools - public day or boarding school, government-funded, government/Catholic partnership - located across multiple districts where FR provides support. Traveling to visit these different types of schools were interesting in itself, with each village, district, and type of school embodying a unique personality. 

Below is the classroom of a public day school in the rural areas of the Nyamata district. Pictured below is Sam of FR/Survivors Fund (SURF). As he was moving desks together preparing for our interview I snapped this photo of him.

Absolutely in love with this photo taken by my iPhone 5.

Of the 7 beneficiaries at this particular school we only had time to interview one female student in Senior 5, meaning she'll complete secondary school next year. This girl was utterly inspring and incredibly bright. Her dream was to become a journalist, yet expressed how poverty was a challenge to achieving her dream. Although she knew listening to the radio and watching tv each day was incredibly important to her aspiring career, her family could not afford a tv, nor batteries on a regular basis. Other challenges she expressed was having to walk about an hour-and-a-half one-way to and from school each day. By bicycle the trip takes about 30-40 minutes depending on how much strength she had that day. However her family only owns one bike which much be shared by all members, so she doesn't have access to it very often. Once she gets home and completes her chores, such as feeding the cow and washing clothes, she barely has any time to study. If she had enough money she'd request to switch to a boarding school, spend less time walking to school, and more time learning French and English. She also requested a solar lamp, as she did most of her studying at home with a a kerosene lamp, which is quite expensive. 

The Rwandan education system is quite complicated, as we are still trying to grasp our minds around exactly how it works. In certain aspects, the US education system is extremely different from that of Rwanda's, while on the other hand students express challenges that we too, experience here in America.  For example, the fact that all students must take a National Exam at the end of Senior 6, equivalent to our high school graduation is something that (thankfully) we dont do here in Amerca. The marks received from that one final exam determines a student's eligibility to a University, and thus nearly determines their entire future. In Rwanda it is universally expressed that if you don't go to a University, your income earning options are extremely limited. During interviews with students, when asked what they would do if they did not get into a University, students replied they would prefer to repeat Senior 6 and re-take the final year than be forced to find a job without a University education. 

Following the conclusion of our hour-long interview, fellow Capstone Team member Priscilla and I proceeded to pass out donated school supplies to the 7 FR beneficiaries at this school. As we were doing so one class of primary students were dismissed and flocked our car. Since Rwandans are so impressively orderly and disciplined, the students formed one line according to Sam's request. Priscilla went down the line and handed one pencil to each student.

Immediately after we handed one pencil to each of the 20 or so students in line, every single primary classroom was dismissed and we became flocked. Unfortunately we were unable to hand out a gift to each of the 100 or so students, so we had to leave. Word spread fast that we had handed out pencils because kids ran up and surrounded us asking us for a 'crayon' - Makes me want to go back and teach English. 

NYU Capstone Team - Foundation Rwanda

- visiting a beneficiary, Karongi district

I didn't anticipate continuing this blog after returning from Africa in August, but what do you know - its January and I get to come back! Thus, the content of my trip still fits within the original theme of this blog so I can continue my entries here without having to start a brand new blog. Yippee!

Background on the Capstone program at NYU Wagner - Our MPA program is unique because it involves a year-long Capstone project component - one of the main features of the Masters program that made it so attractive. Instead of writing a masters thesis (bo-ring!) second-year students form teams and are paired with a client. Together with the client the NYU Capstone Team works on a mutually agreed upon project scope, conducts research, and writes a report over the duration of the academic year. In short, we apply all the knowledge gained from the MPA program to a consulting project, working on a realistic issue for our client. Not only was this component of the Masters attractive because its more engaging than sitting behind a desk for hours on end, but requires personable networking skills, allows us to build our professional networks and looks awesome on a resume.

My AMAZING Capstone Team

So, back to my Capstone project - my client is Foundation Rwanda, a US-based nonprofit that aims to educate a very particular vulnerable population of children affected by the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Prior to Foundation Rwanda's existence, no existing government or NGO programs had been created to support their specific needs. It's a pivotal moment for Foundation Rwanda, in that its beneficiaries are now 17 - 18 years old and will be be graduating secondary school soon. Foundation Rwanda, who primarily funds their education, is trying to determine how best to continue supporting them. In efforts to provide 'holistic services' - health, pyschosocial, income generating activities - Foundation Rwanda has called upon us to conduct a needs assessment and cost analysis of the its current 820-some students and their mothers. This is what has brought me to Rwanda for about 2 and a half weeks. (Due to the confidential nature of the subject, for more information about Foundation Rwanda and the population they serve visit them at their website - http://www.foundationrwanda.org/)

First impressions? Rwanda is extremely clean. Compared to Ghana where plastic water sachets litter the ground, the Rwandan government has outlawed the usage of plastic. As a result litter is nearly nonexistent in Kigali. In fact, its quite evident Paul Kagame places a high value in the cleanliness of the country's capital. Driving through the streets of Kigali, the fact that government public works employees can be seen beautifying the sides of the roads and weeding sidewalks is indicative of the care and tedious effort invested in Rwanda's spotless appearance. With Rwanda's economy on the rise, Kagame made a great point in that you cannot expect an economy to flourish if its people can't master easy steps first such as keeping streets clean and orderly. I'd have to admit, in comparison to the only two other African countries I've visited - Ghana and South Africa - Rwanda appears extremely orderly and disciplined. 

playing in the 'princess-like' mosquito net,  Karongi district near Kivu lake